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Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India
passenger flight An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
that crashed into Mont Blanc, France on the morning of 3 November 1950. The plane operating the flight was a Lockheed L-749A Constellation named ''Malabar Princess'', registered VT-CQP. It was piloted by
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Alan R. Saint, 34, and co-pilot V. Y. Korgaokar. It was carrying 40 passengers and 8 crew on a Bombay- Cairo- Geneva- London route. While over France, descending towards Geneva Airport, the flight crashed into the French Alps, killing all on board.


Accident

The airplane hit the face of the Rocher de la Tournette at a height of , on the French side of Mont Blanc. Stormy weather prevented immediate rescue efforts; debris was located by a Swiss plane on 5 November, and rescue parties reached the site two days later. There were no survivors. The last transmission from the aircraft, received by controllers at Grenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical with Voiron, at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m. Some mail on board the flight was recovered after the crash and was annotated with "Retardé par suite d'accident aerien" ("delayed due to aviation accident"); further items of mail were found in 1951 and 1952. On 8 June 1978, a patrol of the French mountain police found letters and a sack at the foot of the Bossons Glacier. Recovered were 57 envelopes and 55 letters (without envelopes) and all but eight letters were forwarded to their original addressees. Sixteen years after the crash, Air India Flight 101 crashed in almost exactly the same spot. In September 2013, a climber discovered a cache of jewelry that is believed to have been aboard one of these two flights.


References

{{coord, 45, 49, 59, N, 6, 51, 35, E, type:airport_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Airliner accidents and incidents with an unknown cause Aviation accidents and incidents in France Aviation accidents and incidents in 1950 Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation Mont Blanc
245 __NOTOC__ Year 245 ( CCXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Titianus (or, less frequently, year 998 ' ...
1950 in France November 1950 events in Europe